A composting trench adds nutrients to the soil and helps it retain valuable moisture. Courgettes, pumpkins and runner beans are particularly thirsty and hungry plants, so will really benefit from this composting method.
If you want to dig a trench in February, you still have a couple of colder months left for the soil bacteria to get to work and rot the waste down in time for the growing season. All you need is a plentiful supply of organic kitchen waste and a garden spade.
Step 1
Dig a trench to a depth of about 60cm in the spot you’ll be planting. Then start filling it with everything from potato and carrot peelings, apple cores, mouldy fruit, banana skins, onion skins, stale bread, eggshells, cheese, used coffee grounds and even teabags.
Step 2
Every time you add a batch of kitchen waste, cover with a layer of soil – of at least 10cm. Keep piling it in, layer by layer, until the trench is nearly full. Finally top off with soil and leave to break down. It will hold on to plenty of moisture, which crops really benefit from.
Step 3
As the weather warms up in May and June, start sowing seeds or planting young beans directly on top of the composting trench. When their roots reach down into this moist microbial environment, full of nutrient-rich material, the plants start growing even more strongly – producing a bountiful harvest that will be ready for picking in July or August.
